This chapter examines the strategies for the representation of subjects in ancient Greek collective biographies. It analyzes the Vitae philosophorum et sophistarum by Eunapius and the Historia ...
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This chapter examines the strategies for the representation of subjects in ancient Greek collective biographies. It analyzes the Vitae philosophorum et sophistarum by Eunapius and the Historia monachorum by an anonymous author. It suggests that the authors of these works did not analyze the character so much and that their main concern was to emphasize the scintillating qualities of the subjects of their biographical sketches. They used the so-called pictorial idiom that was considered as the peculiarly expressionistic manner of the fourth century.Less

Strategies of Representation in Collective Biography : Constructing the Subject as Holy

Patricia Cox Miller

Published in print: 2000-04-12

This chapter examines the strategies for the representation of subjects in ancient Greek collective biographies. It analyzes the Vitae philosophorum et sophistarum by Eunapius and the Historia monachorum by an anonymous author. It suggests that the authors of these works did not analyze the character so much and that their main concern was to emphasize the scintillating qualities of the subjects of their biographical sketches. They used the so-called pictorial idiom that was considered as the peculiarly expressionistic manner of the fourth century.

This book offers a series of case studies that throw light on the type of films that are collectively known as bio-pics. It asks whether the bio-pic is a genre in its own right, or whether such films ...
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This book offers a series of case studies that throw light on the type of films that are collectively known as bio-pics. It asks whether the bio-pic is a genre in its own right, or whether such films are merely footnotes to other more traditional genres such as western or costume dramas. It shows how bio-pics, unlike other genre forms, seem to share no familiar iconography, codes, or conventions. They can be set anywhere and at any time. It argues that what links them is, quite simply, the fact that the films depict the life of an “important” person. Through a carefully selected range of thematically linked (English-language) bio-pics released since 1990, this book explores key issues surrounding their resurgence, narrative structure and production. It also looks at the issue of subject representation or misrepresentation in bio-pics and the critical response these type of films have engendered. The films under discussion are grouped around a number of professions (writers, singers, politicians, sportsmen, criminals, artists). This allows for comparisons to be drawn about the way in which similar subject matter is approached.Less

Bio-pics : A Life in Pictures

Ellen Cheshire

Published in print: 2014-12-16

This book offers a series of case studies that throw light on the type of films that are collectively known as bio-pics. It asks whether the bio-pic is a genre in its own right, or whether such films are merely footnotes to other more traditional genres such as western or costume dramas. It shows how bio-pics, unlike other genre forms, seem to share no familiar iconography, codes, or conventions. They can be set anywhere and at any time. It argues that what links them is, quite simply, the fact that the films depict the life of an “important” person. Through a carefully selected range of thematically linked (English-language) bio-pics released since 1990, this book explores key issues surrounding their resurgence, narrative structure and production. It also looks at the issue of subject representation or misrepresentation in bio-pics and the critical response these type of films have engendered. The films under discussion are grouped around a number of professions (writers, singers, politicians, sportsmen, criminals, artists). This allows for comparisons to be drawn about the way in which similar subject matter is approached.